Blue Jackets take Milano

NHL

June 28, 2014

COLUMBUS (AP) - From YouTube sensation to first pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

With the 16th selection in the opening round, the Blue Jackets took Sonny Milano, an offense-minded forward who played last year for the USA Under-18 team and will attend Boston College this fall.

Milano was an Internet sensation after filming a series of trick shots and dazzling bits of puck-handling when he was 14 in an attempt to win a free pair of skates from a sportswear company. He got the skates.

"I actually never wore them; I just kept my old ones," he said. "I never used them much. I gave them to a friend of mine."

A year ago, the 6-foot, 185-pound Milano had 29 goals and 56 assists in 58 games for the USA development team.

He's envisioned as a scorer, but believes he makes his teammates and team better.

"I think I'm just a smart player with good hands who's really creative," he said. "I hope I make other players better, too. That's what I bring to the table."

The selection was announced in Philadelphia at the draft by Blue Jackets head amateur scout Ville Siren.

After the top five or 10 picks, few experts were able to gauge the rest of the draft. But Milano had an inkling that his name might end up being called by the Blue Jackets.

"I had a crazy feeling, actually," he said. "Right before they announced the pick I had a feeling and told my mom that. I guess I kind of called it."

Before introducing Siren to announce the pick, Blue Jackets director of hockey of operations John Davidson offered an invitation to fans to come to the NHL All-Star game next season at Nationwide Arena.

"C'mon over," Davidson said with a grin.

Milano is a native of Massepequa, New York. His given first name is Frank. He hopes that it won't be long until he makes a name for himself in the NHL.

"That's not up to me, that's up to the staff in Columbus," he said. "I'm just going to keep on trying to get better every day and hopefully I'll be there soon. I'm just going to keep playing my game."

It's already been a busy past couple of weeks for the Blue Jackets.

They've made a few moves, the biggest being trading forward R.J. Umberger and a draft pick (that they later recouped by dealing defenseman Nikita Nikitin) to Philadelphia for a guy who seems to fit their style of play perfectly in left wing Scott Hartnell.

General manager Jarmo Kekalainen also re-signed free agent goaltender Curtis McElhinney, who will once again be the backup for Sergei Bobrovsky.

Columbus is coming off its best of its 13 seasons. The club went 43-32-7, setting franchise marks for wins and points (93), then won playoff games for the first two times while pushing Pittsburgh to six games in the first round.

Already stocked with young talent, the Blue Jackets never really benefited from the sizable talents of last year's premier free-agent signing, Nathan Horton. He missed the first half of the season after shoulder surgery and then was largely ineffective due to several injuries before missing the stretch run with an abdominal injury that required surgery. He is expected to be ready to go this fall.

Kekalainen and his scouts won't have as busy of a Saturday as they had planned.

Just before the opening round of the draft Anaheim told the Blue Jackets that it would keep its second-round pick, the No. 38 overall selection.

Instead, Columbus will get Toronto's second-round pick in 2015 to complete the trade-deadline deal which sent Marian Gaborik to the Kings, who had an option on the two picks. Gaborik and the Kings went on to win the Stanley Cup.

The Blue Jackets enter the second day of the draft - rounds two through seven, for those scoring at home - with picks 47, 63, 77, 107, 137 and 197.

Panthers take Ekblad with No. 1 pick in draft

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - With the first pick of the NHL draft, the Florida Panthers went with 15 seconds of dramatic pause before announcing the name.

The silence felt much longer for Aaron Ekblad.

"I was just sitting there just kind of scared and excited at the same time," he said.

At last, general manager Dale Tallon made the call for Ekblad, selecting the defenseman with the first pick in the Friday night.

Ekblad, a 6-foot-4, 214-pound defenseman who played for Barrie in the Ontario Hockey League, is the first defenseman to go No. 1 since St. Louis took Erik Johnson in 2006.

Without a clear cut No. 1 on the board, Tallon was open to trading the pick. In the end, he decided to take the 18-year-old defenseman from Belle River, Ontario, with the first selection at the Wells Fargo Center.

"That is the burden of expectation. I chase it," Ekblad said. "I want that burden of expectation. I want that feel for motivation and I want to succeed under that."

The Panthers had a top-three pick in the NHL draft for the fourth time in the past five years. The first three - defenseman Erik Gudbranson (in 2010), wing Jonathan Huberdeau (2011) and center Aleksander Barkov (2013) - all played significant roles last season. Florida also won the draft lottery in 2002 and 2003, but traded away those picks.

"We are thrilled to have selected Aaron with the No. 1 pick," Tallon said. "He is a strong, smart and physically mature defenseman who skates well and can play at both ends of the ice. Aaron is another building block for our team and we are confident that he will fit well with our young nucleus of talented players that includes Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Erik Gudbranson. We look forward to his continued growth and contributions to our team and the South Florida community."

Ekblad was the OHL's most outstanding defenseman last season, ranking first among defensemen with 23 goals.

and tying for fifth with 53 points. He also served as Barrie's captain.

Ekblad said he was NHL ready and should fit in.

with the Panthers after a recent scouting mission.

"You look who they have on their back end, right or left shots, all that kind of stuff," he said. "I was watching to see if Florida would get a new coach. The last little while, it's pretty fun to just follow that after the season."

Flyers fans packed the arena for the first draft in the city. They gave one of the longest sustained boos in recent memory for NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's draft introduction. He was drowned out for most of his 2-minute speech thanking the city for its hospitality.

"Isn't this supposed to be the city of brotherly love," he asked.

Bettman heard a huge ovation over the "Let's Go Flyers!" chant when he introduced the hometown team for the 17th pick.

"That's more like it," he said.

There was mild applause when the team selected little-known defenseman Travis Sanheim.

Former Flyer Rod Brind'Amour received a huge ovation when the Carolina assistant coach made the pick for the Hurricanes.

The Sabres selected center Sam Reinhart with the second overall pick. He is the son of former NHL player Paul Reinhart, who was selected by the Atlanta Flames in the first round in 1979.

Reinhart has the potential to be a top-line center in filling a key need for the rebuilding Sabres, who are coming off one of their worst seasons in franchise history. Buffalo (21-51-10) finished last in the NHL standings, and set a franchise record for losses.

The Coyotes made their first pick since changing their name from Phoenix to Arizona. They selected forward Brendan Perlini with the first pick in "Arizona" history.

There was a big trade in the hours before the draft, when the Anaheim Ducks acquired center Ryan Kesler from the Vancouver Canucks for center Nick Bonino, defenseman Luca Sbisa and the 24th overall pick Friday.

The 29-year-old Kesler is a standout two-way center who has spent his entire 10-season career in Vancouver, compiling six 20-goal seasons and 392 career points. The two-time U.S. Olympian won the Selke Trophy in 2011 as the NHL's best defensive forward.

Nashville traded forward Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward James Neal midway through the draft.